Day-planning apps aim to help achieve healthier lifestyle

TORONTO (Reuters) - Feeling stressed, overwhelmed and finding it
difficult to fit everything into the day? New apps are designed
to help people pace themselves better to achieve a healthier,
more balanced lifestyle.

Owaves, for the iPad, is one of several new wellness planning
apps that aim to help users reduce stress by visualizing how they
will spend their day.

“Day planning is a very important and under-appreciated piece of
achieving wellness. It gives you a roadmap,” said Royan Kamyar,
founder and chief executive officer of Owaves, based in San
Diego, California.

The free app includes a 24-hour clock and lets users drag and
drop activities essential to health, such as exercise, sleep,
relaxation and nutrition, into the day planner to fit into the
normal routine of work and play.

“Being cognizant of how you spend time is a fundamental first
step towards improving health and wellness,” said Kamyar.

Designed by game developers, the app also encourages people to
incorporate activities like meditation and spending time with
friends and family into their day.

“Something as simple as a half hour of meditation a day is good
for you to lower stress, improve memory and reduce depression.
But most people will say they don’t have that time, which is
usually a problem of time management,” Kamyar added.

Users can also save routines they plan to repeat regularly.

Other life balance apps include Candooit and Life-Clock, which
are both for iPhone and cost 99 cents.

Scott Schieman, a professor of sociology at the University of
Toronto in Canada who studies work stress and health, believes
the apps may help people gain a greater awareness that they need
to take time to unwind.

“With our minds being so cluttered with work and other
responsibilities, it’s really important to plan some kind of
disengagement or time away,” he said in an interview, adding that
even a five-minute break can be beneficial.

“Planning is key because it’s easy to let other things take
priority,” he added.

But Schieman is skeptical about whether people will follow
through on their plans.

“At a minimum these kinds of apps keep your mind more focused on
the way you’re actually spending your time, but it might raise
awareness of how little control you have of that,” he said.

(Editing by Patricia Reaney and Eric Walsh)

Read the original article on Reuters. Copyright 2014. Follow Reuters on Twitter.